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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27558727">Fixing the Timeless Child</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Big_ball_of_anxiety_and_cake/pseuds/Big_ball_of_anxiety_and_cake'>Big_ball_of_anxiety_and_cake</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Doctor Who (2005)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Episode: s12e10 The Timeless Children, Fix-It, Not a Story, Other, Season/Series 12, theory</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:08:36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Not Rated</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>684</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27558727</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Big_ball_of_anxiety_and_cake/pseuds/Big_ball_of_anxiety_and_cake</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Basically my attempt at what it says on the tin. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Not a story but a theory.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Fixing the Timeless Child</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is just a theory. I have no proof for this except my own personal opinion that it makes more sense than canon.</p>
<p>Parts of this have probably been theorised before. If you feel like something in this belongs to you, I apologize. It was not my intention.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Over the course of season 12, there were 4 main questions:</p>
<ol>
<li>Who is the Timeless Child?</li>
<li>Who is Ruth and why does she have a police box TARDIS?</li>
<li>Why is the Master evil again?</li>
<li>What happened to Gallifrey?</li>
</ol>
<p>While the season finale did attempt to answer these, their solutions were either unsatisfying or simply made no sense. Here is my take on how season 13 could still resolve this:</p>
<ol>
<li>This one is easy. Not the Doctor. The Master lied. Seeing as he is not exactly a reliable source of information, establishing this should not be a problem.<br/>But who would it be instead? It has to be a Time Lord and while we could simply introduce another previously unknown Time Lord, the Master is probably the most obvious choice. His relationship with Gallifrey has always been a difficult one and it would explain his extreme rage at the discovery. Contrary to the Doctor, we don’t know that much about his previous incarnations and adding a few wouldn’t change as much. It would also explain how he keeps surviving against all odds.<br/>That’s question 1 answered which leads us to number 2:</li>
<li>If the Doctor is not the Timeless Child, then where did Ruth come from?<br/>We could simply establish her to be from a parallel universe after all or make her an android sent by the Master, but my favourite idea is that she is the Master herself. In fact, the incarnation between Missy and our current Master.<br/>This theory is very closely connected to question 3, so let’s go there first:</li>
<li>If the Master was the Timeless Child, regenerating after that supposedly lethal blast would most likely not be a problem. But it would still affect her, maybe enough to leave her confused about her own identity. And as who did she introduce herself at the beginning of „World Enough and Time“?  <br/>That sonic blast would be the perfect reason for the newly regenerated Master losing her memory and believing to be the Doctor. It would also explain her more violent and aggressive nature.<br/>So, she would somehow get a TARDIS, set the chameleon circuit to police box, because she would still remember that as „her“ TARDIS, and set off into the universe.<br/>Where she would get the TARDIS? I have no idea. The Saxon Master’s TARDIS must have disappeared somewhere when he became Missy, so the Ruth Master/Doctor could simply reclaim that one or steal a new one from Gallifrey.<br/>The Time Lords would obviouly notice the new, slightly different incarnation of the Doctor and would try to recruit her, leading to that whole plot of „Fugitive of the Judoon“. At some point they capture Ruth and she regains her memories while also finding out about the Timeless Child.<br/>She’s obviously furious which leads us to question 4:</li>
<li>Ruth happened. A newly re-discovered Master finds out about the horrible things that the Time Lords did to her in the past. Pair this with the Time Lords being their usual not-nice selves and you all know that that can’t end well.<br/>Ruth freaks out and somehow destroys Gallifrey. I don’t care how. Special Timeless Child-powers, a new weapon or maybe even bringing back the Moment are some ideas I would have. All that really matters is the result.<br/>The Time Lords are dead and Ruth probably has to regenerate in the process. The new Master is quite literally alone in the universe. How easy it would be to fall back into old habits. And who else to turn to but the Doctor?</li>
</ol>
<p>Thus the plot of season 12 happens. The Master invents O, forms an alliance with the Kasaavin and plants hints for the Doctor to find in the Matrix. All just to get the attention of the only person that ever made them feel like they belonged.</p>
<p>The only thing left unexplained is why the Master would want the Doctor to die.<br/>Was he bluffing? Did he hope that the Death particle would really kill him, but was unable to directly kill himself? Something else entirely?</p>
<p>That’s for you to decide.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Sooo…yeah. There’s that.</p>
<p>I might turn this into an actual story in the future, but for now I’ll leave it like this.</p>
<p>If anyone would like to write a story with this, feel free to. I would love to read it.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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